Self-locking toothbrush holder



p 9, 1970 A. M. LVINDQUIST 3,531,072

SELF-LOCKING TOOTHBRUSH HOLDER Filed Jan. 26, 1968 LINDQUIST INVENTOR.

ALFTORNEY United States Patent Office 3,531,072 SELF-LOCKING TOOTHBRUSHHOLDER Alberta M. Lindquist, 690 A Rand Ave., Oakland, Calif. 94610Filed Jan. 26, 1968, Ser. No. 700,793 Int. Cl. A46b 17/00 US. Cl. 2481133 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A fixture including a horizontalplatform element having an aperture therein for receiving the neck ofthe handle of a toothbrush for supporting the latter and a vertical backelement provided with pressure adhesive for securing the fixture to awall, said fixture being formed of thin, springy, but manually bendablesheet material which is bent near its middle transversely at a rightangle to provide said elements, said aperture being connected with anedge of said platform element by a narrow slot with outwardly divergingsides engagement with which by a brush neck, when the latter is shiftedbroadside edgewise toward said slot with the brush inclined fromvertical, deflects said slot sides upwardly and downwardly to widen saidslot to admit said brush neck into said aperture, or to permit thewithdrawal of said brush neck from said aperture.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The field of invention involves thedevelopment of facilities which will render available in an economicalform a fixture for hygienically supporting a toothbrush in whateverquarters a person may be occupying, whether these be at home or as aguest in a hotel, motel or private residence, or in dressing roomsprovided for industrial employees, or for students in gymnasiums anddormitories or in clothes lockers generally where there is a need forhaving a toothbrush available.

Prior US. patent to Jenkins, No. 2,957,584 shows a folding disposabletoothbrush rack made of paper stock and foldable to produce a verticalback and a horizontal platform, the latter having apertures forreceiving handles of toothbrushes. The back was provided with a pressureadhesive for securing the same to a wall. Flanges formed by bending fromside edges of said paper stock held the back and platform elements inright angled relation.

In my US. Letters Patent No. 3,367,610 issued Feb. 6, 1968, I discloseda toothbrush holder formed of a strip of thin manually bendable sheetvinyl which takes a set when bent to form a right angle between avertical back element and a horizontal platform element, the latterhaving a hole for inserting a handle of a toothbrush downwardly therein,the bristles of said brush engaging the platform element adjacent saidhole for supporting said brush on said holder. While paid patentedholder serves its purpose very effectively wherever there is plenty ofhead room above the holder to permit the brush handle to be insertedvertically downwardly into the hole provided in the holder, this holderis not adapted for use where the head room above the holder is too smallto permit thus inserting the toothbrush handle. This prevents thepreferred embodiment of said patented holder illustrated in the patentfrom being used in locations on the inside of cabinets where the holdermust be disposed only a short distance below the top of the cabinet orbelow one of the shelves therein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A principal object of the present invention isto provide a toothbrush holder comprising a right angled brack- PatentedSept. 29, 1970 et including a vertical back and horizontal platform, anda flat facility adapted to be converted into such a bracket manuallywherein the platform is provided with a brush holding aperture connectedwith an edge of said platform by a narrow slot through which a brushneck may be moved broadside, with a horizontal thrust, to introduce saidneck through said slot and into the brush aperture when the smallestcross-sectional dimension of said brush neck is greater than the widthof said slot at its narrowest point and wherein said brush neck can belikewise removed by a reverse horizontal movement of said brush and yetwhich will prevent the accidental displacement of said brush verticallyor horizontally from the aperture in said platform.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a toothbrush holderand facility for making the same in which the introduction of the neckof a brush into the aperture of said holder and the withdrawal of saidbrush neck therefrom may be accomplished with relative ease by merelyinclining the brush from vertical and presenting the neck of said brushedgewise to said holder.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a bottom plan view of apreferred embodiment of the facility of the invention which is adaptedto be converted manually without the use of tools into the brush holderof the invention by bending said facility transversely near its middleinto the form of a right angle.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the facility shown in FIG. 1 after thelatter has been manually bent to convert this into a brush holdingfixture.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the manner in which thepressure adhesive cover of said fixture is peeled therefrom in preparingto apply said fixture to a wall surface.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a bathroom cabinet with thesliding door thereof partly open and with the top thereof partly brokenaway to illustrate the mounting of a pair of said brush holders of theinvention against the inner surface of an end wall of said cabinet andshowing a brush hanging in normal stored position in the foremost ofsaid holders and a second brush inclined from vertical and turnededgewise to the aperture slot of the rear holder as is preferable wheninserting the neck of a brush into or withdrawing it from said aperture.

FIG. 5 is a vertical transverse sectional view through a bathroomcabinet of a different type showing a brush holder involving saidinvention installed on an end wall of said cabinet and illustrating themanner in which a toothbrush is inclined from vertical and disposededgewise when inserting the neck of the same into or removing it fromthe aperture of saidholder.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring specifically to thedrawings, the invention is therein illustrated as comprising atoothbrush holder 30 which embodies a flat strip 31, generallyrectangular in shape, rounded at the corners and preferably made ofwhite sheet vinyl, about .025 of an inch thick and polished on bothsides. The strip 31 is preferably about one inch wide and about two andone-eighth inches in length. The strip 31 is divided near the middlethereof by a line 32 into a platform end portion 33 and a back portion34. The latter portion is preferably about one inch long and has onesurface thereof covered with a coating 35 of pressure adhesive.O'verlying this coating and temporarily adhering thereto is a waxedpaper cover 36 which prevents premature contact with the adhesive 35.

The platform portion 33 has a brush neck receiving aperture 37 which isconnected by a slot 38 with an end edge 39 of the strip 31 so as todivide this end portion of the strip into a pair of jaws 40 withdiverging edges and which lie on opposite sides of said slot and areadapted to be spread apart as shown in FIG. by inclining the handle 45of a brush 46 as shown in this view and inserting the neck 47 of saidbrush edgewise between the jaws 40 thus spreading said jaws apartvertically and widening the slot 38 whereby said brush neck 47 may beeasily admitted into the aperture 37.

Removal of the brush from aperture 37 is likewise effected with thebrush neck 47 inclined from vertical and presented broadside edgewise tothe jaws 40.

Conversion of the holder 30 from its flat form as shown in FIG. 1 to theapproximate form of a right angle as shown in FIG. 2 is accomplished bymanually bending the strip 31 transversely close to the line 32 in adirection which will place the cover 36 on the outside of the bend. Thishaving been accomplished, a place for installing the holder 30 must bechosen where there will be adequate room for accommodating the head 48of the brush 46 both while the brush is stored in the holder as shown inthe foreground of FIG. 4 and while it is being inclined as shown in FIG.5 to introduce the brush neck into the holder or remove the sametherefrom. This is best done by hanging the brush in the holder beforethe latter is applied to the place selected for mounting the same andthen moving the holder to engage the mounting area with the pressureadhesive 35 on the back of the holder. Firmly pressing the back portion34 of the holder against this surface now firmly mounts the holder sothat it will remain indefinitely in the position in which it is thusmounted.

The holder 30 of the invention has the advantage of allowing movement ofthe neck of a brush horizontally into the aperture of the holder so thatthe holder 30 may be mounted inside a cabinet a close distance beneaththe top of the cabinet or beneath any of the shelves thereof. Anotheradvantage of the holder 30 is that when the jaws 40 are freed frompressure these resume their 00- planar relation and trap the brush 46 inthe aperture 37 whereby the brush cannot be removed from the aperture 37by lifting the same straight upwardly or in any other manner except bytilting the brush handle and presenting the brush neck 47 edgewise tothe slot 38 and then pulling horizontally on the brush handle to flexthe jaws 40 and release the brush as illustrated in FIG. 5.

I claim:

1. A facility from which a toothbrush holder may be manually producedand permanently mounted on a vertical surface without the use of tools,said facility comprising a flat strip of thin and stiff but springysheet material,

said material being bendable transversely intermediate its ends at aright angle without breaking the same, by the application of ordinarymanual pressure thereto, so that the material takes a set at said anglewhich stiflly retains said strip in bent form;

a layer of pressure adhesive, coating one face of one end portion ofsaid strip; and a relatively non-adhesive protective cover overlying andtemporarily sticking lightly to said coating,

there being an aperture provided in the opposite end portion of saidstrip for holding a toothbrush whereby said holder will support saidbrush when said strip is bent as aforesaid away from said cover and saidcover is removed and said adhesive is applied to a suitable smoothvertical supporting surface,

said aperture being connected by a narrow slot with an edge of saidstrip,

the sides of said slot diverging outwardly so as to respond to broadsideapplication edgewise of the neck of the handle of said toothbrush tosaid slot with said brush laterally inclined whereby said slot sides areflexed apart in opposite directions, one side being flexed upwardly andthe other downwardly thereby temporarily widening said slot verticallyand admitting said brush neck into said aperture, said slot sidesrigidly resisting separation in a horizontal plane to admit or releasesaid brush handle when the latter is pressed horizontally against saidslot sides with said handle disposed vertically.

2. A combination as recited in claim 1, wherein said flat strip is benttransversely intermediate its ends at a right angle to convert the sameinto a toothbrush holder.

3. A toothbrush holder comprising an angle bracket including a verticalback having means for securing the same to a wall and a horizontalplatform which is made of a single piece of stiff but springy material,and is provided with a brush holding aperture which is connected with anedge of said platform by a narrow slot, said slot dividing said edgeinto a pair of co-planar integral jaws which are adapted to be readilyflexed apart upwardly and downwardly but not horizontally to widen saidslot by said vertical flexing only when inserting a brush neck into andremoving the same from said aperture as by inclining said brushlaterally and presenting said neck thereof edgewise to said slot.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,440,385 4/1948 Schulte 211-2,523,539 9/1950 Neugass 2481 10 2,957,584 10/1960 Jenkins 211-653,367,610 2/1968 Lindquist 24811O CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Primary ExaminerUS. Cl. X.R. 21165; 248--316

